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tv   The Ed Show  MSNBC  May 24, 2012 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT

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of our investments from wall street sharpies? is that who we want looking out for us, those mitt romney calls the successful. government of by and for the economic elite. is that what we want? if you from bain is now out there selling. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. mitt romney's education tour hit a brick wall in the city of brotherly love today. parents and teachers rejecting his plans to privatize schools and line the pockets of his fat cat friends. >> i'm told about the success of these institutions and this institution particularly. mitt romney's made-up schools that are not succeeding. the mayor tells him to get out.
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>> i don't understand why he's here today. >> sam stein on mitt romney's ugly day in west philly. rick scott is the ne new kather harris. democrats are mounting a new defense against a massive voter suppression effort in florida. i'll talk to the congressman leading the effort. congressman mike coffman is now changing his excuse for attacking the president. >> i misspoke and apologize. >> scott walker is going national to survive his recall. mr. barrett joins me tonight. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. president bush famously asked the question, are our children learning? mitt romney, are we making enough money off them? mitt romney visits a charter
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school about success of for profit education. >> i'm told about the success of these institutions you helped found and this institution in particular and would love to get your privilege on what makes it work. >> there are real questions about whether charter schools are working including the one romney visited today. the universal blu ford charter school in philadelphia was put on warning status last year. only 27% proficient in math and 22% proficient in reading. the objectives or 72% in reading and they are behind. romney told the audience classroom size, it has nothing to do with school performance. the teachers he spoke with today took issue with romney's logic. >> i can't think of any teacher in the whole time i've been teach teaching 10 years, 13 years, who would say they would -- more students would benefit them.
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>> of course,. >> i can't think of a parent that would say i would like my teacher to be in a room with a lot of kids and only one teacher. >> you ckacan give more personalized attention to each student if you have a smaller class size. i have to agree with mr. morris. >> in first through third grades, forever the class size is under 18, those kids stay ahead of everybody else all the way through school, including classes where you might have 25 in the class and co-teachers. >> i mean, class size. this is basic stuff, basic understanding how teachers achieve. actual teachers and administ administrators gave romney real live input about the situation in their schools. is the his response. >> a think tank type group went alooked at south korea and singapore and around the united states and said, gosh, in the schools the highest performing in the world, their classroom
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sizes are about the same in the united states. >> did he say around the world? you mean mitt romney has a worldly view of education and not american? in other words, forget the real life experiences of teachers in the classroom, mitt romney will liston what a think tank tells him. he doesn't have to do anything and he doesn't know anything about overcrowding or underfunding when it comes to schools and what it will do to them. romney doesn't seem to care, just like he didn't care when he was the governor of massachusetts. in his first year, romney cut education funding to close a $1.2 billion budget gap. the cuts caused local taxes to go up. they also caused layoffs of more than 14,000 teachers, police officers, librarians and other public employees. in 1999, mitt romney said, we don't need to spend more on education. in his book titled "no apology", romney wrote the effort to reduce classroom size may hurt education more than it helps.
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this is why there were protesters in the streets of west philadelphia today when mitt romney showed up to talk education. philadelphia mayor, mike nutter, held mitt romney to his record on education. >> romney has always opposed investing in our children's education. again, i don't understand why he's here today. >> we know exactly why mitt romney was there. he wasn't making an appeal to students of parents of inner city. romney is letting republicans know he's committed to privatizing education in america and turning a profit on grade school students. it's all about the money. in his new education proposal, romney directs more federal funding for charter schools and digital education and more state control over public education costs. we must provide families with abundant school choice among a traditional, public schools, charter and online alternatives. romney doesn't care if the class sizes are overcrowded.
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more students means more money, to keep the schools in the black, students are another spot on the ledger, another number on the bottom line. it's the romney family way, get a load of this. take the private equity firm solamere capital. romney invested $10 million. the firm's managing partner is his son, tagg romney. he has an investment stakes in ta associates, on thor of several for profit schools. how about that? folks, it isn't about education, about making a dollar. privatizing education takes care of a lot of republican problems. number one, weakens and maybe kills the unions and allows funding cuts for schools so governors can run wild with the budget and hurt kids. most importantly, it increases the profit margins of people like mitt romney and his son. the education of future generations takes a back seat to all of this. for profit. is that where we want to go in
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america? there are instances where these charter schools are not performing as well as the public schools. how would you feel as a parent if you found out the school is making money but your kid is behind. why? they had to make cuts because they wanted to make some more money. is the not what the founding fathers had for this country. mitt romney all of a sudden has a worldly view of education? gosh, i remember the republicans going after john kerry in 2004 because he was kind of like the french. maybe romney picked that up on one of his vacations. get your cell phones out. do you trust mitt romney with public education. tex a for yes and b for no. 22369. you can go to our blog leave a comment, we love that. results later. i'm joined by sam stein, political reporter for the "huffington post" and eugene robinson, associate editor and
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pulitzer columnist for the "washington post." good to have you with us. eugene, this system to me seems like it could be set up to short change kids if somebody thinks we could make more money if we did it a different way at these charter schools. i know you have researched and written a lot about charter schools. would romney's world drastically change public education in this country? it sounds that way. there are good charter schools and bad charter schools, that's the issue. charter schools are not a panamacyia. there is no way education will be fixed without primary focus on public schools. public schools educate the children of america. you have to focus on public schools if you're really going to have impact. let's not pretend we will get anywhere if romney really wanted to go whole hog on privatization of education.
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let's not pretend he would get very far at all. some of the ideas he seems to have about class size are frankly just ignorant. he doesn't seem to be aware of the research. >> they're absolutely archaic. he is down to the basics and fundamentals of teacher-student ratio in the classroom and results. this guy wants to be president of the united states. sam, does romney's education record in massachusetts pose a problem for him? >> yes, i think so. in concept, people will agree education department, education funding could be trimmed a lot of fat there and can be streamlined. he did put it in practice in massachusetts and made cuts and incredibly unpopular if not controversial. i think what he's trying to do now is very similar. people ask what does it mean for me and my kid, when they have a problem with it. with respect to class size, back to the budget battles, the
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president wanted $30 billion more for express purposes of saving 230,000 teacher jobs. if romney were to say, we'd like more teachers in the classroom, i would agree with the concept of smaller class sizes, how do you get that $30 billion passed. >> conservatives love to talk about american exceptionalism and now their candidate is talking about how they do it in other countries. what do you make of that? >> i call it situational conceptionali conceptionalism. convenient. when not convenient, we want to look around the globe for best practices. get going back to the teacher's question, that's something romney wasn't talking about. what current research does tell us, having a great teacher in the classroom and reasonable class size makes all the difference, makes a huge amount of difference. the real discussion is how do
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you get great teachers in the classroom and take experienced teachers and those who aren't performing, bring them along and new teachers. that's the focus. he doesn't want to talk about teachers because he doesn't want to employ them. >> it means money. you have to pay them. in 2011, 68% of schools said they had to eliminate teacher positions because they didn't have the budget money. this is a problem that actually requires checks. there's no money under romney's budget to do it. >> it seems to me romney doesn't understand what tutoring is all about. that one-on-one personal connection, focus on the student that needs to be catching up a little bit. he's making the case if you put more kids around this kid, he has a better chance of learning. here's one of romney's biggest solution for imf proving school performance. >> having two parents in the home makes an enormous difference. thinking of the kids of tomorrow, trying to help move
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people to getting married and having families where there's a mom and dad together has a big impact. in my view, that's critical down the road. >> i didn't know schools could get involved in social engineering and control the home life of these kids. how is a two-parent home a valid education policy? how would that work? >> i don't know. a lot of people are going to be sent to the principal's office, i guess. you know, you talk to people who work in troubled schools. obviously, home life and family life, a variety of issues, not just single parent families and housing and nutrition and other health issues play a role in student performance and students ability to learn. that said, what are you going to do about it? if it affects education starting from the standpoint of the schools, let's first work on the classroom. let's work on what happens in the classroom because that's what you can control. >> sam, why did he go to philadelphia? >> i don't know.
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i think part of it he want eded show there are democratic bastons but not a very smart choice because you had teachers speaking up and statistics in the program. a securios choice for venue. obviously, philadelphia will not go republican but wanted to stick a thumb in the eye of the administration. >> thank you so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter. we want to know what you think. congressman mike coffman is still trying to apologize for saying president obama is not an american. his apology, in my opinion is still lacking. mitt romney, he is siding with rush limbaugh, when it comes to atta attacking president obama, michael ledwit, jack rice r, so much more.
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coming up, congressman kaufman has a brand new excuse for his attack on president obama. it's a dandy. and right wing hatred for the president and how it has to stop. governor rick scott wants to purge 180,000 voters off the roles in the state of florida. i'll talk to a florida congressman trying to stop scott's voter suppression. tom barrett has tough questions about scott walker about the john doe investigation. and joining me later on in this hour. use the hashtag ed show, we are coming right back. it means anybody can attain whatever they want to do this is what red white and blue means to me. what does it mean to you? ♪ to get your feet moving to the beat. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's and feel the energy from your feet up. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles,
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congressman mike coffman of colorado is still trying to do a 180 from his assertion president obama is just not an american. today, he wrote an opinion piece in the "denver post." since 2008, i have rejected the notion he is anything but american. last saturday, i made an inappropriate bonehead ed comment, i should not have questioned his devotion to our country. i believe president obama love this nation and wakes up every morning trying to do what's best for our country. this is what he said last saturday. >> i don't know whether president obama was born in this united states or not. i do know this. at his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> he later apologized in a statement and on camera, he said this. >> i think that -- i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i
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apologize. >> who are you apologizing to? >> i stand by my statement i misspoke and i apologize. >> i apologize. we talk to you all the time. you're a very forthcoming guy. who's telling you not to talk and handle it like this? >> i stand by my statement you have and i misspoke and i apologize. >> reporter: was it that you thought it would go over well in the county where folks are very conservative and you would never say something like that in the suburbs. >> i stand by my statement. i misspoke and i apologize. >> reporter: is there anything i can ask you you'll answer differently? >> i stand by my statement and i misspoke and i apologize. >> his piece in the denver post is not enough. he needs to match sound for sound. maybe a live interview with that reporter in denver. here are republicans who have recently questioned president obama's citizenship. how about congressman cliff stearns of florida. congresswoman vicky hartzler and
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arizona ken bennett and the iowa republican party. this continues to fester because republican leadership will not shut it down. even the republican candidate for president uses birther donald trump as his biggest fund-raiser. here's the latest example, a chance to dine with donald and mitt. let's bring in editor of the nation magazine. great to have you. isn't this an issue of leadership. >> i hate we have to sit on the people's air waves and talk about it. i think we do. a party like fish rots from the top. we have here something we've seen through american history. richard hoff stetler wrote a book, "the paranoid style in american politics. 've seen this and now have fox new news,age university to the tea party and they're unwilling to
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fully repudiate these wingnut crack nut theories and allow this to fester in a way that brings out the worst bigotry and ugliness in -- >> how should boehner handle it? what should he do? >> he should end -- not just boehner, mitt romney and the entire republican party needs to say, we need to call a halt to this. here's the problem. they have in the republican party a small fringe base they're afraid of not appeasing. let's not forget, we're living at a time we have a media system with ideologically driven misinformation at fox, not a news organization in my view. you have a few days ago one of their leading news arching cores report the story of secretary of state suggesting president obama be taken off the ballot because hawaii could not confirm his birth certificate, reporting that as a legitimate news story.
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fox news is owned by robert murdoch and robert ailes controls it. that it are spreading misinformation. it is time for journalists to call on the republican party to say we cannot live in a moment when you can have your opinions but you don't have a right to your own facts and truth is not equal distant between thomas jefferson and say joseph stalin. >> speaker boehner was asked by the "new york times." he said the speaker has told his members repeatedly that this year is going to be a referendum on the president's economic policies and that's where our focus should remain. they haven't done that. >> they haven't done that. listen, it goes back again. president obama arriv arrives -- you're dealing in a country, i do think the tea party, to be most benign about it is primarily white, witnessing a country changing around it. it feels angry, feels --
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>> the diversity. >> let's not mince words. president franklin roosevelt was called a socialist. the john birch society wanted to attack kennedy for being all kinds of things but president barack obama is the first african-american president in our country's history. this is an enormous step of progress civilizing events and the tea party and these birthers hate it. >> what should they do? >> i don't think it should be focused on these people. focused on the candidate of the republican party and must be a call on the republican establish document disavow -- >> what should mitt romney do? >> he should make the equivalent. i hate to put the two together because president obama's race speech was so important. i think he must call on the birthers an those in this movement to stop the disgrace that they are bringing on america and make an important speech. i don't think so because i think they're very worried --
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>> but he's fund-raising with them. >> he us a fund-raising with them. he is in bed in many ways. they have created and let foster something that is not new, we have seen it, a paranoid fringe but given more power. on some level i feel we shouldn't be talking about it but we have to call it out for what it is. >> no doubt. great to have you with us tonight, katrina. thank you. next congressman ted deutche says florida governor rick scott wants to play the role of katherine hair rinse this election, pushing to remove voters from roles. when we go to the polls in wisconsin, scott walker's recall election and the governor's association are jumping in big time and bringing in the artillery. t there.
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welcome back to "the ed show." president obama leads mitt romney in the key battleground of the state of florida by four points according to the latest nbc maris poll. it will be a tight race. luckily for mitt romney, rick scott is lending a hand. the governor urged him to come up with a list of people registered to vote in florida but ineligible to do so. browning told the "associated press" scott specifically asked him whether non-citizens were voting in elections.
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browning reportedly told him non-citizens who voted risked being charged with a crime. scott told him, well, people lie. browning responded, yes, people do. but we have always had to err on the side of the voter. not anymore. after browning resigned earlier this year, scott went ahead with his plan and now his current secretary of state, ken detsner claims 180,000 florida voters may be ineligible because they are not citizens. and a "miami herald"er computer analysis found hispanic democratic independent minded voters are the most likely to be targeted by the state. now, florida election officials are questioning the accuracy of the used to create this purged list. seminole county supervisor of elections, mike erdle, standing
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next to a voter falsely identified as ineligible holding up his passport. this is a story all too familiar. in 1998, florida secretary of state, katherine harris, ordered a similar purge list. that list was also full of errors. by one estimate, 7,000 florida voters were wrongly removed from the voter rolls for the 2000 presidential election 13 times george w. bush's margin of victory after the supreme court halted the post election recount. joining me is congressman ted deutche of florida. this could be a game changer if they follow through on that or am i wrong? >> that's right. >> there is a convert effort nationwide to disenfranchise voters. florida is the best example, make it harder to vote. cut down the number of early
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voting sites and make it harder for people to register to vote. now comes this, the governor of florida putting together a list of 180,000 people and going in to say, if you're on this list, you lose the right to vote. we need to address this. >> this is all about swing in florida to the republicans. >> i don't think there's any question. you say he's playing the role of katherine harris. >> i do. >> they're playing out of the old playbook. >> we are less than 90 days until a primary election. the governor has this list of 180,000. they sent out notices to the first 2600 voters because they are the ones they were certain would be ineligible. we found veterans and retirees, you showed that tweet earlier, people eligible to vote, getting noti notices to say, if you don't respond and send in eligibility you can vote, your name will be removed from the polls.
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>> what do they have to do? >> what we're doing first and foremost telling the governor he has to stop this. >> he isn't going to stop, is he? >> this is not a partisan issue, a matter of preserving the right to vote, that's what's at stake and asking the governor to put a halt to this. we're getting input from citizens who don't understand why they received this and telling them they should go ahead and comply even though we fight this effort to disenfranchise florida's voters. what should obama for america do about this? they have the infrastructure to contact these folks? this is a big national story here. >> it is. it's important for the people in florida who received these notices to understand what's at stake if this governor succeeds. they have to complete this form and send it out. it says if you don't respond, your vote will be taken off the
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voting rolls. imagine if you misplace it and show up to vote and your name is scrubbed off the voting rolls. >> the process is considered flawed, no question? >> there's no transparency. we don't know where this idea came from. we don't know if the governor is working with outside groups. there are 180,000 names and in the analysis tend to vote democrat. we circulated among my colleagues, democrats and republicans in florida to ask them to sign on. i have a sneaking suspicion my republican colleagues may not be interested and send it to the governor and demand he stop this. >> we will do this story again and again, a big deal. it's information getting your constituents to understand what they have to do next but not to get discouraged, how republicans play the game. >> the whole thing is repress voter turnout whether by
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scrubbing the roles and it's so difficult telling them they can't give up. >> thanks so much. lots more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." >> there's no question he's attack iing capitalism. he doesn't understand how free enterprise works. >> mitt romney doesn't have the spine to agree with rush limbaugh. another republican showing up to defend scott walker. >> we will fight the unions and i will keep being a union buster. >> i'll ask if the john doe investigation around scott walker is fair game. is walker telling the truth on job numbers. dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave.
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win the presidency by running against capitalism. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was limbaugh attacking president obama's record. now, mitt romney is siding with limbaugh. take a look. >> governor, would you go as far as rush limbaugh did yesterday in saying this is the first president in modern time who is going to run a campaign against capitalism? >> it certainly sounds like that's what he's doing. no question but that he's attacking capitalism, in part, i think, because he doesn't understand how the free economy works. he 's never had a job in the free economy. neither has vice president biden. they spent their lives as either community organizers or members of the political class. >> the big panel tonight. let's turn to jack rice, alice hogue, michael ledbet. we have a conservative, liberal and middle of the road.
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can you give us concrete examples of president obama running against capitalism? >> obviously, what mitt romney is responding to is all the attacks on his success in bain capital. part of what he means is what he did in bain capital is basically take over a lot of companies when he was running the company and in 80% of those occasions, they transitioned and they actually helped those companies become more profitable. there is a great deal in the obama campaign that seems to suggest that there is something obscene or wrong or dubious about seeking to turn companies around and make a profit. the fact is i wouldn't use the term he's running against capitalism. i think that's a stupid term. i would say this has been a president who has been distinctly anti-business because people in america know -- >> how has he been anti-business. he's given all kinds of tax breaks to business, put all kinds of incentives on the table, given wall street just about everything they want.
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jack, your thoughts. >> i agree. he's gone over and over again on this issue, another example no matter what he says doesn't fit the paradyne the gop is arguing. the fact president obama is willing to stand up and represent all americans including the poor, doesn't mean he's being anti- -- means he is being spnsive, not ant anti-capitalism. >> mitt romney at first was hesitant to answer that and jumped right in. >> this is putting up a challenge for old etch-a-sketch romney, isn't it? a trick for republicans, on one hand, they want to paint he's too close to wall street with bailouts and the other against capitalism. americans can tell the difference between vulture capitalism as governor perry said in the primary and good old-fashioned economy that
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offers equal opportunity. that's what president obama is trying to bring the economy back to after eight years as george bush. >> would you admit romney went in to improve the economy not create jobs. >> absolutely. unless you have corporations actually profitable -- >> he was going after companies that had big pensions and had war chests. they went in, paid themselves big fee, gutted the place, bankrupted and walked with 1$10 million in one case. >> the problem with what you're saying, ed, you're assuming the people on wall street supposed to be so cunning an conniving they would somehow not get the idea this was the means of procedure of bain capital. the truth is it wasn't. most of the times they went in and bought companies, put money into those companies and turned them around and sold them for a
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profit. >> turn them around. their issue was not to turn them around. they only bought companies good at making money so they could raid them. they didn't buy companies losing money. >> incorrect. the gs steel company in kansas city obama featured in his ads was losing money big time. >> that's a cyclical business. you know that. >> and said if they had not come in, they would have closed eight years before they did. >> this guy has gone in and ruined lives to take profit. jack, your thoughts on that. >> absolutely. we have seen hacking and raiding of companies not for the benefit. this wasn't for the benefit of america, the benefit of mitt romney. the problem is that cyclical difference and ramifications were massive for america. it was very negative but he never cared particularly about that. >> hold on, hold on. here is romney defending his record at bain. here it is.
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>> with regards to bain capital, they just put a report out about their record, the bain capital guys did, noted they made 350 investments since the beginning of the firm. of those investments, 80% of them grew their revenues. i'm pretty confident the overall record of the enterprise i helped begin is one that's pretty solid. >> the other 20%, the hell with them, right? what do you think? >> i think mitt romney is trying to distract from his record of governor of massachusetts where the deficit went up and job creation went down. all of this is a way to keep the focus off of him and throw attacks at the president and put him on the defense. manufactur mitt romney and the rest of the republican party knows he can't stand on his record whether at bain or governor of massachusetts. >> go ahead, mike. >> the basic question the american people are going to ask right now is do we want to continue the country in the direction it's been going in the last 3 1/2 years.
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>> sure. >> it has nothing to do -- mitt romney left bain capital in 1993. i honestly believe if you take a look at the percentage of successful ventures that he had -- this is the point about running against capitalism or business. >> nobody is running against capitalism, mike, i want to clarify here. it is mitt romney citing his experience at bain capital that makes him qualified to be president of the united states. >> would you agree, somebody said a moment ago, what about the 20% of businesses that failed? the truth is that capitalism means sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. if you succeed 80% of the time, you're one of the most successful men in american history which mitt romney is. >> the problem we have in the end, this is not about job creation. is the about profit for bain and romney and the real problem americans are looking at. >> profit and job creation are not contradictory.
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>> what he's ignoring is sometimes people lose. the way mitt romney ran bain, he never lost. his million dollar investors never lost. the people always on the losing end of the stick were middle class americans just trying to do their jobs and get ahead. >> thanks for joining the panel. union bussing governor nikki haley is campaigning for scott walker in wisconsin. she says if the loses, it will be a major hit for republicans everywhere.
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coming up, republican governors come out in support of scott walker, find out what the recall elections means to them. tom barrett, milwaukes me a debate with the governor tomorrow night. you can liston me on this mondan to 3:00 p.m. fiscal me on twitter at ed show
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and like the showed on facebook. we're coming right back.
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well, republican support is pouring in for scott walker with only 12 days to go before the louisiana election. louisiana governor bobby jindal showed up at a fund-raiser and nikki haley. haley is a fierce opponent of unions and affirmed that view on fox news last night. >> we will keep fighting the unions. i will keep being a union buster. we will keep talking about tax relief and we will keep bringing jobs to south carolina. there is a reason south carolina is the new "it" states because we're a union buster and continue to be fiscally responsible and business friendly. >> what do they have against people making a living. why she is helping walker. >> if he loses this, it will take the spine out of others in this country and if he wins
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this, it will give them more strength than ever before. >> the importance of winning his recall on the national level. >> it's about ultimately our state, if they affirm me on the vote on june 5th, i think, sends a powerful message not only around wisconsin but the country. >> that is exactly why republicans are all in on this one. they know if walker loses, republican governors across the country will take a major hit. their template for union busting will be destroyed and they will lose power. there is another reason why walker is calling in reinforcement reinforcements! the barrett campaign released a new poll today from gar garinhartyang. walker only is 2 points above mayor barrett. well within the margin of error. it has them within a dead heat among people certain to vote.
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and the dnc is getting involved. they sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to contribute to barrett. it's up to democrats across the country to help win this thing. the outcome is important to anyone who supports democratic values no matter where you live. the e-mail went out to millions nationwide and expected to be a boost to their campaign. do you trust mitt romney with public education, 2% said yes and 98% said no. a day before the big debate, milwaukee mayor tom barrett releases a new ad slamming scott walker on his john doe investigation. ok! who gets occasional constipation,
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the 2012 e-class bluetec from mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. an important message to the people of wisconsin, tomorrow's debate between tom barrett and scott walker is an opportunity for walker to tell the truth about the john doe criminal investigation. governor walker, will you release all e-mails sent and received between the people who pled guilty of criminal wrongdoing. will you provide the funding on your legal defense which has already paid more than $100,000 to criminal lawyers? >> barrett has been targeted by the national governor's
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association on jobs and false commercials and said the nra is lying about his gun record. we'll get to that. i'm joined tonight by milwaukee mayor, tom barrett. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> you have a debate tomorrow night with walker, the first of two and have taken out that commercial wanting him to release e-mails that could be between him and those who have already admitted to felonies. why is this important? >> scott walker is the one person of the state who can tell the people of the state whether he was involved in this secret e-mail system, computer network set up in his office, 25 feet from his own personal office, three people from his staff have been charged with felonies already. he has not answered any questions. he's tried to bob and weave and duck and run every time he's been asked by reporters in this state. time for him to answer this question.
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>> do you think this is an issue for the people of wisconsin? are they concerned about this? >> i think the people of the state of wisconsin are concerned scott walker is the only governor in this country who has criminal defense fund, the only one. he's been preoccupied by this. part of the reason that his job numbers have been so poor, wisconsin ranks dead last in increasing jobs in this nation, he spent so much time touring the country giving speeches to the far right and being the rock star for the tea party and being preoccupied with this scandal that has engulfed his administration in particular, those people who had worked for him while he was county executive. very distracting. >> i take it you will hit this john doe investigation pretty hart tomorrow night in the debate. what about jobs jrchlt t? the department of labor statistics says 30,000 jobs have been lost and he claims he has added them.
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who do we believe. >> the attorney general trots out a new set of numbers not traditionally used in this state. the numbers i used are the bureau of labor statistic numbers used by every state and governor and media and even governor scott walker last year when he liked those numbers. >> is he lying about these numbers? >> these numbers cannot be verified. we don't know whether he is or not. i will not trust those numbers until they are verified by the federal government. that's what i want to see. he knew they could not be verified prior to this election. >> the national rifle association, deer hunting is a religion, no question about that. the national rifle association says you're a gun grabber, someone that will take away firearms of sportsmen. this is the commercial they're playing right now and shows the gun vanish iing that's what wil happen if you're a governor. i want you to respond to that.
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>> it's a lie. i support the second amendment and hunters and sports people in this state. i know hunting is an important part of the economy, the culture, history of this state. if you are a hunter in this state, you have nothing to worry about with me. i support your constitutional right to bear arms. i support your right to hunt. what i'm concerned about, scott walker brought in a guy from texas, a texas guy to deal with the deer herd in the state of wisconsin. we don't need someone from texas to deal with the deer herd. we have always had a tradition people of all incomes can find land where they can hunt. i do not want to see the areas of this state constricted so fewer middle class people, fewer working people in this state can hunt. that's how important hunting is to this state. >> has to be the first state of the union to bring in a deer czar. i guess that would be a deer czar for the state of